[igitur]

Hi,

I realise there are loads of posts about playing H.265 / HEVC videos smoothly on Kodi on Linux, but many of those posts are old.

I have a Xubuntu 18.10 machine running Kodi Leia RC1. Currently have a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 with latest GeForce drivers. HEVC videos don't decode on the GPU. See image below.

So a few questions:

• Am I right in saying that HEVC videos are currently not HW-decodable on Linux due to the lack of API support in the NVidia Linux drivers? (that's what old posts say, but is this still true as at April 2019?)
  
• If so, will HEVC HW-decoding be unsupported for the foreseeable future? Obviously difficult to say for sure, but I trust you guys' gut feel about this
  
• I have the option to trade the GTX1060 for a Radeon RX460. Would the RX460 support HEVC HW-decoding on Linux/Kodi Leia?
  

thanks
Francois

[Klojum]

Am I right in saying that HEVC videos are currently not HW-decodable on Linux due to the lack of API support in the NVidia Linux drivers? (that's what old posts say, but is this still true as at April 2019?)

It's not the HEVC part that is the problem. Nvidia in Linux can handle HEVC videos just fine, as long as it is an 8-bit color video. It's the 10-bit color videos in Linux that Nvidia cannot handle because of their ancient VDPAU drivers. Nvidia has a new type of hardware encoding/decoding driver, but so far no one (inside the Kodi team at least) has had the guts to develop yet another adaptive layer to Nvidia's proprietary drivers. Hence that LibreELEC 10 will no longer support Nvidia graphic cards.

The Nvidia GTX1060 is fine for 10-bit video when you would use a Windows 10 environment.

I have the option to trade the GTX1060 for a Radeon RX460. Would the RX460 support HEVC HW-decoding on Linux/Kodi Leia?

For AMD there are "constant" upgrades in the latest Linux kernels for at least Ryzen graphics. I have no clue as to where Polaris support is on Linux.

I have a Xubuntu 18.10 machine running Kodi Leia RC1

Which video drivers do you have active? 18.10 should have Nvidia's newer drivers available.

[DaVu]

18.10 should have Nvidia's newer drivers available

And if those are kind of outdated you could also check the graphics drivers ppa:

https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/...ubuntu/ppa

418.56 seems to be the newest one for 18.10

[igitur]

18.10 should have Nvidia's newer drivers available

And if those are kind of outdated you could also check the graphics drivers ppa:

https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/...ubuntu/ppa

418.56 seems to be the newest one for 18.10

Thanks, but I'm certain that I have the very latest drivers already installed. Got them hot off the press last night.

[yasij]

Hi,

I realise there are loads of posts about playing H.265 / HEVC videos smoothly on Kodi on Linux, but many of those posts are old.

I have a Xubuntu 18.10 machine running Kodi Leia RC1. Currently have a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 with latest GeForce drivers. HEVC videos don't decode on the GPU. See image below.

So a few questions:

• Am I right in saying that HEVC videos are currently not HW-decodable on Linux due to the lack of API support in the NVidia Linux drivers? (that's what old posts say, but is this still true as at April 2019?)
  
• If so, will HEVC HW-decoding be unsupported for the foreseeable future? Obviously difficult to say for sure, but I trust you guys' gut feel about this
  
• I have the option to trade the GTX1060 for a Radeon RX460. Would the RX460 support HEVC HW-decoding on Linux/Kodi Leia?
  

thanks
Francois

 

The AMD VAAPI decode support table is here . Radeon 400 and newer are listed as supporting HEVC 10-bit with libva-mesa-driver. It should work.

Nvidia still has driver issues for decoding HEVC 10-bit. VDPAU doesn't support 10-bit, and likely never will. Nvidia's new API that does support it is called NVDEC (formerly CUVID), but Kodi doesn't support it. It requires using Nvidia's EGLStreams technology to access the decoded video surfaces instead of the standard GBM. This is the same reason Nvidia on Wayland is a mess.

[igitur]

Hi,

I realise there are loads of posts about playing H.265 / HEVC videos smoothly on Kodi on Linux, but many of those posts are old.

I have a Xubuntu 18.10 machine running Kodi Leia RC1. Currently have a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 with latest GeForce drivers. HEVC videos don't decode on the GPU. See image below.

So a few questions:

• Am I right in saying that HEVC videos are currently not HW-decodable on Linux due to the lack of API support in the NVidia Linux drivers? (that's what old posts say, but is this still true as at April 2019?)
  
• If so, will HEVC HW-decoding be unsupported for the foreseeable future? Obviously difficult to say for sure, but I trust you guys' gut feel about this
  
• I have the option to trade the GTX1060 for a Radeon RX460. Would the RX460 support HEVC HW-decoding on Linux/Kodi Leia?
  

thanks
Francois

 

The AMD VAAPI decode support table is here . Radeon 400 and newer are listed as supporting HEVC 10-bit with libva-mesa-driver. It should work.

Nvidia still has driver issues for decoding HEVC 10-bit. VDPAU doesn't support 10-bit, and likely never will. Nvidia's new API that does support it is called NVDEC (formerly CUVID), but Kodi doesn't support it. It requires using Nvidia's EGLStreams technology to access the decoded video surfaces instead of the standard GBM. This is the same reason Nvidia on Wayland is a mess.  

Thanks, I think that answers my question. I'll go for the RX460 then.

[igitur]

Hi,

I realise there are loads of posts about playing H.265 / HEVC videos smoothly on Kodi on Linux, but many of those posts are old.

I have a Xubuntu 18.10 machine running Kodi Leia RC1. Currently have a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 with latest GeForce drivers. HEVC videos don't decode on the GPU. See image below.

So a few questions:

• Am I right in saying that HEVC videos are currently not HW-decodable on Linux due to the lack of API support in the NVidia Linux drivers? (that's what old posts say, but is this still true as at April 2019?)
  
• If so, will HEVC HW-decoding be unsupported for the foreseeable future? Obviously difficult to say for sure, but I trust you guys' gut feel about this
  
• I have the option to trade the GTX1060 for a Radeon RX460. Would the RX460 support HEVC HW-decoding on Linux/Kodi Leia?
  

thanks
Francois

 

The AMD VAAPI decode support table is here . Radeon 400 and newer are listed as supporting HEVC 10-bit with libva-mesa-driver. It should work.

Nvidia still has driver issues for decoding HEVC 10-bit. VDPAU doesn't support 10-bit, and likely never will. Nvidia's new API that does support it is called NVDEC (formerly CUVID), but Kodi doesn't support it. It requires using Nvidia's EGLStreams technology to access the decoded video surfaces instead of the standard GBM. This is the same reason Nvidia on Wayland is a mess.   

Thanks, I think that answers my question. I'll go for the RX460 then. 

So I swapped the NVidia card for the Radeon RX460. And now HEVC 10bit video works flawlessly and decodes on the GPU. I'm happy. And now I agree with Linus about NVidia.

[Klojum]

Thread marked solved.

[igitur]

Slightly unrelated sidenote. I had to follow these instructions (install Compton) to get rid of screen tearing in Xubuntu / XFCE: https://www.maketecheasier.com/get-rid-s...ing-linux/

[RidgeRunner729]

Slightly unrelated sidenote. I had to follow these instructions (install Compton) to get rid of screen tearing in Xubuntu / XFCE: https://www.maketecheasier.com/get-rid-s...ing-linux/

Thank you, igitur!  This solved my issue with screen tearing using Intel Graphics on Linux Mint / Mate.